A Day of Firsts at the Historic 2025 British Grand Prix

In many ways, the 2025 British Grand Prix epitomized the British summertime. It was unpredictable, chaotic, and fun, and everyone was out in full force to watch it.

It was also a day to remember for many reasons. The most notable of these for the Stake Formula 1 Team is the fact that Nico Hülkenberg picked up his first-ever podium finish.

A Day to Remember for Nico Hülkenberg

The skies opened long before Sunday’s race, but as the race start approached, it seemed to ease up, with reports suggesting that large areas of the track were dry. Several drivers gambled on things staying that way and entered the pits to switch to slick tires during the formation lap.

It meant that the standing start looked a little bare, with Hülkenberg back in 19th, left to ponder on the monumental task ahead of him.

They all got off to a clean start, despite the spray of standing water clouding the visibility of trailing drivers, but it didn’t take long for the yellow flags to start waving. Early on, the Haas of Esteban Ocon collided into the side of Liam Lawson and forced him to retire from the race while triggering a virtual safety car.

By the time the dust had settled and the virtual safety car had been called in, Hülkenberg had cut through the pack and found himself in 10th. He was only just getting into his stride, but so was the British weather, and within a couple of laps, the dark clouds that had promised rain all afternoon delivered with gusto.

Makes up Ground

As market favorite Oscar Piastri took the lead up front and opened up a significant advantage over Max Verstappen in second, Lewis Hamilton dropped down the pack while expressing to his team that he was struggling with visibility. Nico seemed to be relishing the opportunity, though, and by lap 14, after yet more yellow flags, he was up to fifth.

At this point, the safety car was called for driver safety. The track was waterlogged and nothing short of a submarine could safely traverse it. The safety car pulled in on lap 21 and gave us the race’s most controversial moment.

Piastri seemed to stop behind the safety car, bringing Verstappen to a sudden halt behind him. Soon after the race resumed, Verstappen seemed eager to make up some ground and spun off the track, dropping back to 10th. McLaren claimed a one-two with Piastri and Norris, and Hülkenberg moved to fourth, leaving him within touching distance of Lance Stroll in third.

Claims His First Podium Finish

As cars struggled and spun all around him, the veteran Hülkenberg kept his sights on that podium finish. On lap 35, he activated his DRS to pass Stroll, with Hamilton slipping in behind him and staying close.

For the remainder of the race, all eyes were on the battles for first and third. Piastri was ultimately given a 10-second penalty for stopping behind the safety car, and this meant he ended up giving way to his teammate, with Norris going on to claim victory.

Hülkenberg, meanwhile, opened up a gap between him and Hamilton. On any other day, the home crowd would have been disappointed to see one of their own beaten off the podium, but this was no other day, and most F1 fans were delighted when Hülkenberg took the checkered flag in third place.

Even Piastri, who left Silverstone feeling that things could have gone a different way, commented to say, “Well done, to Hülkenberg”, while adding that the German’s efforts were the “highlight of the day”.

We couldn’t agree more.

Prior to this race, Hülkenberg was the longest-serving F1 driver without a win. He had started 239 Grand Prix races without picking up a podium finish. He’s certainly made an impact in that time, though. Not only has he won over a lot of fans, but he’s also collected over 600 points, including several fourth-placed finishes and a dozen finishes in fifth.

He can now add a podium to his illustrious career, and if he puts in more performances like this Sunday, it won’t be his last.

A Day of Firsts

We would be remiss if we didn’t mention the other events of the 2025 British Grand Prix. Not only was it an excellent race for the spectators, but it was also a huge one for Lando Norris.

Norris became the 13th British driver to win at Silverstone, putting the Bristol-born driver on a list that includes Damon Hill, Sterling Moss, Jackie Stewart, and Nigel Mansell. The 25-year-old has eight GP victories and 36 podiums to his name, but winning his first race at Silverstone may outshine all of those.

It also marked the first time that McLaren had won the British Grand Prix in 17 years, which is the longest drought in the team’s history.

The 15 points won by Hülkenberg greatly helped his efforts to improve on his best-ever season standings, while lending a huge helping hand to the Stake F1 Team in the Constructors’ Championship.

The Stake F1 Team currently sits in 6th position in the Constructors’ Standings, while Hülkenberg is 9th in the Driver Standings. He has finished 9th a few times in the past, including in 2014 and 2016 when he registered his two highest totals driving for Force India. His best finish, however, came in 2018 for Renault when he placed 7th.

Breaking an Unenviable Record

The fact that Nico Hülkenberg has been competing in Formula 1 for over 15 years is an achievement that cannot be understated. This is a tough sport run by teams that invest a lot of time and money into their cars and expect their drivers to show the same level of commitment every single race weekend.

It’s a lot of responsibility. It’s also a mentally and physically taxing sport, so it’s no wonder that the average F1 career is just seven or eight years, with many drivers disappearing after a couple of seasons. After Alonso and Hamilton, Hülkenberg is the oldest driver currently competing in F1, and the veteran has displayed an incredible degree of competitiveness throughout his long career.

His career began back in 2010 at the Bahrain Grand Prix. He finished 14th that day driving for Williams, and while it was one position less than his qualifying spot, he had to contend with an early spin. In just his third race, at the Malaysian Grand Prix, Nico finished 10th to claim the first points of his career, and he followed it with a pole position at the Brazilian Grand Prix that marked his team’s first pole in five years.

It also earned him a place in the record books, as he became one of the youngest drivers ever to sit on pole. Even today, 15 years later, he still sits 10th on that list.

Few could have predicted that he would still be competing with the best in the world a decade and a half later, but even fewer would have predicted that a driver with so much talent would be unlucky enough to have never stood on the podium in all that time.

Thankfully, it’s a wrong that has been righted, much to the relief of the man himself and his countless followers within the Formula 1 community. Also, as he clearly has a lot more to give, we could still be seeing him compete for those top positions several years from now. If all goes well, we may even see his name on both the youngest and oldest lists of polesitters.

The Impressive Rookie Alongside Hülkenberg

The Stake F1 Team is a blend of experience and youth. On the one hand, you have the veteran Hülkenberg, who consistently proves that he can compete with the best of them, and has the experience that comes with being the third oldest in the current lineup. On the other hand, there’s the incredibly talented rookie, Gabriel Bortoleto.

In Austria last time out, Gabriel Bortoleto claimed the first points of his career, following an excellent performance that saw him finish 8th. This weekend, however, he was one of the many drivers who fell victim to the unpredictable British weather. He spun off early, and while he managed to get his car back on track and make it to the pit lane, he was forced to retire.

The Brazilian is still only 20, though, and he has a long career ahead of him. What’s more, while he’s new to Formula 1, he has plenty of credentials elsewhere that prove he has what it takes to be a star.

Bortoleto won the Formula 3 championship in 2023 and followed this by becoming Formula 2 champion a year later. In that 2024 season, he raised more than a few eyebrows when finding himself at the back of the pack at Monza and still winning the race.

It’s surely a matter of time before we see Gabriel Bortoleto’s name on the podium. Hopefully, he will be up there with Hülkenberg, partying with the sort of vigor we saw from the Stake F1 Team garage after this weekend’s epic feat.

What are the Odds?

If you watched this weekend’s race and saw Hülkenberg cut through the pack and finish ahead of the likes of Verstappen and Hamilton despite starting way back in 19th, you may have been wondering, “What are the odds?”

After all, most eyes were on the McLaren pairing of Piastri and Norris before the race, as they began as the first and second favorites.

Well, if you bet on Formula 1 regularly but missed this wager, you may be shocked and disappointed to know that the average pre-race price for Hülkenberg to finish on the podium was a massive 95.00 (94/1, +9400). That’s equal to an implied probability of just over 1%.

Talk about beating the odds.

For perspective, the implied probability for Verstappen to finish on the podium was a little over 52%.

We can’t promise to give you tips like that every week, but if you check our latest Formula 1 insights, you can find some great tips for every Formula 1 race weekend, as well as insights into how the Driver Standings are shaping up.

What’s Next for the Stake F1 Team?

The 2025 British Grand Prix was a huge result for everyone at the Stake F1 Team, as evidenced by the post-race celebrations. There was music, there was dancing, there was cheering, and there may have been some Champagne. We had plenty of reason to celebrate and were probably the noisiest garage on the track.

So, where do we go from here?

Well, we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing. We’ll take this success, consider everything that we learned from a very challenging race weekend, and move into the next week, and the next, and the next. There are still five months of the Formula 1 season to go. We’re only at the halfway point—there are many more races to run and podiums to compete for.

Regardless of what happens from now until the end of the season, we will remain true to the ideas we expressed at the beginning of the season. We wanted to offer the racing community something more than a simple partnership. We wanted a fun and innovative collaboration built on a shared love of the sport and the F1 community.

Every race weekend, you can find various events, promotions, and offers on Stake.com, all of which are geared toward motorsport fans. We want to turn every race weekend into a celebration—whether we finish on the podium or not—and hope that you will join us on every step of this journey.

So, for the best insights, tips, promotions, odds, and more, stick with Stake this Formula 1 season.

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